Book Reviews 199
you the man (sic)" gives reason for concem. The earliest years of a child's life related to attitude development are as yet greatly neglected in research; at conferences where educators working in the fields of science and mathematics meet, the early years are at best underrepresented. Yet it is during these very years that lifelong attitudes are established. It is at this stage that the intervention programmes should be aimed. Anything later than kindergarten is open to the objection that one is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. The best the present intervention programmes can achieve is to give frrst aid to those whose attitudes are a1ready set in the hope that those receiving the aid will intervene in the next generation.
This fact apart, the organizers of the MOIFEM conference are to be congratulated in setting it up and taking it one step beyond the usual run of such activities by publishing the proceedings. This enables those who did not attend to share in its many and varied contributions to the important study of Femmes et Mathématique.
Marjorie N. Farmer (Editor). CONSENSUS AND DISSENT:
Brenda M. Carter McGill University
TEACHING ENGLISH PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. Urbana, IL: National Conneil of Teaehers of English, 152 pp. $10.00. NCTE members $7.50.
The National Conneil of Teaehers of English released its first yearbook on the occasion of its 75th anniversary. The seventeen contributors of Consensus and Dissent: Teaching English Pasto Present. and Future identify the state of the teaching of English today while reviewing its development over recent decades and setting down its challenges for the future. Each in his own way stresses the themes of the yearbook: (1) a recognition of the professionalism of teachers, (2) a vision of the integrity of the discipline, and (3) the reconciliation of theory, research, and practise in the c1assroom.
First, the authors look at "Content: What We Teach" through a discussion of language, reading/literature, written composition, and oral communication. Through an historical and developmentai approach, this section gives a balanced idea of how the content of the English c1assroom bas expanded to reflect new knowledge and new needs.
200 Book Reviews
Through a similar approach, the second section, "Conditions: Context for Teaching," stresses that it is the "collective influence of classroom teachers that is needed to reform and renew the English curriculum, teacher education, educational research, and testing and evaluation while it further explores the tensions hetween books and new technologies. The contributors review the developments in the teaching of English through historical essays which identify the times of consensus about new aims balanced with times of conflict and doubt. The influences of the sixties and seventies, from civil rights to Vietnam and Watergate, are explored along with the demand to retum to "basics." They further explore the current debate over quality education and the developments in the field of written communication. Together with the first section, these contributors underscore the recurring theme "that what we teach determines how we teach and that how we teach affects what is taught and leamed."
The final section, "Change: Toward 2011," looks to the future, envisioning teachers as active agents of change. The frrst division, "The Political Issues Since 1960," explores equal access to education, teacher accountability, unionization, and censorship. The author offers these explorations as a challenge to the profession that will he met only through a unified effort with teachers exercising "their professional expertise and assume(ing) responsibility for their own destinies." The second area, "Imperatives for the Future," offers seven conditions which the author feels must he addressed: the redefinition of literacy, access to proper tools of leaming, teaching of higher level thinking skills, use of technology, strengthening of texts, redefinition of the K-12 programs, and support for excellence. The third essay, "NCTE Presidents: Priorities for the Future," is a round table discussion addressing "problems facing the English teaching profession" while suggesting priorities for and making predictions for the NCTE as it enters the last twenty-five years of its centennial.
This yearbook offers to teachers of English "practical principles" and "authentic images" which are derived from the experience of good teachers. It furthers its cause in effectively addressing the needs of English teachers: "need for camaraderie and collegiality, for determination and self-criticism, for respect and recognition, for intellectual stimulation and professional exchange."
James Dukes St. Charles Parish Schools (La.)
